Why I am in a Local Assembly Today

Joel Portman

My experience was much like other young people whose parents
enjoyed active fellowship in a local assembly. My parents had
passed through a long period of searching, both of the Scriptures
to know the truth and for a Scriptural place, before they finally
found a local assembly and left the denomination they had
attended for many years. But growing up in an assembly and
knowing nothing else, there were many times that I questioned if
the local assembly was really the right place for a Christian to
be. Why not other places? I had friends who I enjoyed, and they
claimed to be saved but went to other places. Those places had
more activities, more people, and much more to offer than the
little assembly of 10-12 Christians that met at the hall where I
was the only "young person." So the time came that I
left home and also left the assembly. I found that there were
Christians in the place I began to attend, and they were
interested in the Word of God and were seeking to live for the
Lord in some way. The preacher was a good man who tried to serve
the Lord in that place. However, in time, I found that when I
considered what the Bible said and what I had experienced at the
little assembly, there were elements and practices that I knew
were not right. I sorely missed the Lords Supper every
Lords Day morning, remembering the Lord in that simple way.
This spoke to me more than most other things at that point, but I
also missed the brethren taking part as they were exercised, and
local men giving ministry to the saints, though they werent
as polished in their presentation or as educated in their
studies. I knew they had something that this man didnt
have, and I also realized that the Lord intended for local
brethren to develop exercise and to be used in that exercise,
something that wasnt permitted where I was going. Many
other aspects continued to come together as the Lord dealt with
me until there was nothing else I could do to be responsive to
the Word of God, but I had to seek fellowship in the local
assembly once again and be obedient to the Word of God.

A little later in life, I was faced with circumstances that
forced my thinking another step. Being discouraged with some
things in the local assembly and also enjoying warm fellowship
with brethren from another gathering worked strongly to make me
consider leaving the assembly for that place. For some reason, I
determined to wait on the Lord for guidance, not making any move,
but praying and searching the Word for something that would show
me what to do. After about a year of this exercise, two simple
things came to my mind very abruptly, not from anything that
anyone said but just as simple thoughts. One was that these
brethren with whom I enjoyed so much happy fellowship were the
best spiritually that this other gathering had, and if I were to
go to that place, I would have to accept fellowship with all
those who were there. This, I knew, I could not do. I knew there
were those in that meeting that did and thought things that I
could not agree with. Secondly, I realized that in any gathering,
if the principles were right, then one could seek to do something
about the practices that failed to measure up to those
principles; but if the principles upon which they were gathered
were wrong, there was virtually nothing could be done about the
practices.

These two thoughts possibly may seem very small or
insignificant to some, but to me then and now, they appeared as
if God had built a solid foundation under me that has settled me
firmly in the fellowship of a local assembly as we gather today.
It seems that those truths have never wavered or changed, and
they continue to speak to me in the same way today.

Along with these experiences, there are many truths that the
Lord has used to make me absolutely convinced that the local
assembly is the only Scripturally correct gathering for saints
today. Notice a few of these:

The Only Gathering Taught in the New
Testament is the Assembly

We find other gatherings of individuals in synagogues and
pagan temples, but for the believers, there was only one place
they were gathered, and that was the assembly. Search as one
might, we can find no other instructions given except for the
assembly and its gathering; we cannot find any practices of
believers in gathering except in a local assembly. The inevitable
result of our examination of the Scriptures is that we learn that
God has only one place for His saints to gather and that is unto
the Lord Himself, in His Name alone, and in subjection to Divine
authority.

This is taught in Matt. 18:20, and a careful study of this
passage shows us that, while it may not give a definition of a
local assembly, it certainly give us its principle. It is a very
important passage in the context of this gospel to show us the
place where the Lords people gather in a hostile
environment as is the world, to honor the Lord and to obey the
Word of God. It is the consistent practice of all believers in
Acts. I Corinthians gives the teaching that describes the
distinctiveness and functioning of that assembly. I Timothy 3:15
teaches us that, in contrast to the Jewish synagogue and the
pagan temple in Ephesus, only one place was house of
God and was recognized by God. There is only one gathering
for believers today that is taught by the Word of God, and if one
departs from the local assembly, he would have to disregard the
clear, simple teaching of this blessed book.

It is the only Gathering that...

Acknowledges the Lordship of Christ and
gives Him the place of supreme authority that He deserves. A. W.
Tozer, who was a great preacher of a past day in a denomination,
wrote a chapter in a book and titled it, "The Waning
Authority of Christ in the Churches." In this book he says
that in all his experience of sitting in church meetings to make
decisions, he never heard any person say, "Why dont we
see what the Word of God has to say about it?" The only
gathering that seeks to know the teaching of the Bible and allows
it to determine the functioning of the gathering is a local
assembly. It is the place where His will is sought and His mind
is carried out within the realms of our limitations. Matthew
18:18 teaches that the assembly is responsible to carry out on
earth what has been determined in heaven, and that will is made
known through the Word of God to spiritually exercised believers
on earth.

Seeks to uphold Scriptural Doctrine, for
any other place one might go usually has serious problems with
doctrine, often doctrine that touches on the person of Christ.
Prominent leaders of denominations often do not believe in the
impeccability of Christ, that He could not and did not sin. Many
do not believe in the virgin birth, the eternal, essential Deity
of Christ, His eternal Sonship, and many other fundamental
truths. Many places have serious problems with Charismatic
teachings. Doctrine is very important, and these are not the only
ones (every doctrine of Scripture is very important) so that we
must seek to be in a place that teaches and upholds the truth. I
Timothy 3:15 again tells us that the assembly is the Pillar and
Ground of the Truth, and this is vital for its preservation.

Allows the Control of the Holy Spirit since
it is in a local assembly that the Spirit of God is allowed to
direct and control those who would rise to give out a hymn, lead
the saints in praise and prayer, speak a word for the purpose the
Spirit designs or to act Scripturally in other ways (I Cor.
12:7-9, 14:26). He is not only Present, but He is to be President
in the gathering. That also means that mans arrangements
ahead of time are often contrary to the Spirits control in
the gathering. Some assemblies are forgetting this important
principle. In any other gathering, where one or two men control,
there is no room or possibility for the Spirit of God to cause
other men to rise and take part. This is likely the most grievous
sin against the Holy Spirit in our day.

Encourages and permits the Priesthood of all
Believers in the functioning of the meeting, allowing
brethren to rise and take part as they are exercised, qualified
and gifted by the Holy Spirit. Most fundamental gatherings
profess to believe in the Priesthood of all believers, but not
Priesthood in the collective gathering. Private priesthood of
believers is one thing, but the Scriptures also teach the Public,
collective functioning of that priesthood (Heb. 13:12-15). One
man ministry is a grievous thing and is contrary to this
principle.

Any other Gathering Requires me to...

Compromise Essential Truths of the Word of
God since one cannot accommodate the teachings of men
in church gatherings without compromise of Divine truth. Many of
the things already mentioned, for example, require compromise on
the part of any believer who would be a part of such a gathering.
They require compromise in the teaching of the Lords Supper
as a weekly observance of the local assembly alone, the truths
concerning the Lord Jesus and the place He is to have among His
people, truths having to do with fellowship and what the Lord
requires for His people. Compromise is the call of our day, and
outside the assembly, one must continually compromise to be able
to remain in such a place.

Fellowship with those who do not give clear
testimony of salvation because most church gatherings
outside the assembly do not preach a clear, searching gospel and
as a result, many are brought in or accepted in that fellowship
who do not have a clear testimony or give evidence of Divine
life. To be in fellowship in any place like that requires me to
be in fellowship with all who are there, no matter what they are
or practice.

Practice activities that Contradict the
Principles of the Word of God and by this we mean
involvement in interdenominational activities, participation in
functions that are not Scriptural in the local gathering, and
many other elements that would be part of such a fellowship. In
addition, the principles of separation must be compromised or
ignored, mingling with and associating with those who not saved,
and being affected by their practices that only tend toward an
association with the world and its practices. Inevitably one
becomes like those he associates with, and in time, one attending
such places outside the local assembly becomes like those of that
place.

What is the solution to questions about the local assembly?
Search the Scriptures to learn and make sure that the local
assembly, with all its faults and failures that one might see, is
the place that the Word of God teaches. There is only one place
that can properly claim the presence of the Lord in the midst,
and an exercised believer should be most concerned to be where HE
is. We do not gather in an assembly just because the brethren are
pleasing to us. We should be there regardless, because that is
where our Lord is. Remember that the coming day of review at the
Judgment Seat of Christ will be according to our faithfulness to
the Word of God and the Person of Christ so that what may seem
like gain now will be exposed then as a great and eternal loss in
comparison with what one might receive from the hand of our Lord
in that coming day.